Extract of sample"Response paper to Oedipus the king"

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He subjects the citizens of Thebes to questioning regardless of their age and status in society. He specifically questions a blind prophet, a shepherd, and a messenger.
He gets different narratives regarding how Laius was killed. After questioning one of the prophets, it becomes evident that the individual who killed Laius would sleep with his (Laius’) wife, Jocasta (Sophocles par 1). This story disturbs Oedipus greatly, forcing him to investigate the matter further. Jocasta cautions him not to investigate the matter beyond what he already knows, but he ignores her pleas. Jocasta’s persistence against investigating the matter raises a number of issues. It is most likely that she knew Oedipus was her son. One may ask if she wanted to fulfill the prophecy or acted out of shear ignorance. If she knew what was going on, why did she let Oedipus suffer for things he hardly knew about?
After further investigation, it turns out that he was the killer of Laius and that Jocasta was his mother. From this scenario, it was not destined for Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother. All these things happened without his knowledge (Sophocles par 1). If he had known that Laius was his father, he would not have initiated such an action. His action was fair, and the people to be blamed were Laius and Jocasta. They abandoned Oedipus at a tender age, and he grew up knowing neither his father nor his mother. However, this does not prevent Thebes from experiencing the plague. This is unfair to Oedipus because he was the killer.
Another issue in the play that is worth mentioning is: why does Oedipus have to suffer for crimes that he did not commit? The actual killing of Laius occurred when Oedipus was provoked and offended by a group of travellers. Oedipus killed Laius in self-defense. When one is faced with such a situation, reasonably, there is no option other than to defend oneself. It is not fair to hold Oedipus accountable for the curse that has
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[Student’s Name] [Instructor’s Name] [Course name and code] 06 June 2011. Oedipus the king: This paper is primarily based on a largely contemplated and extremely riveting issue regarding the renowned ancient Greek climactic play “Oedipus the king”.

Dramatic irony, in particular, was employed in the story as a fundamental instrument to build the tempo of the play. In a dramatic irony, audiences are engaged in the progress of the story, in which the actors are unaware of it (Winnington-Ingram 1980). In this way spectators are placed in a prime position, as they are more knowledgeable of the plot than the characters themselves.

The play King Oedipus consisted of eight dramatic personae and they were: Oedipus, Creon, Priest of Zeus, a chorus by Theban elder, Jocasta, Teiresias, herd of Laus and a messenger. Theaters in ancient Greeks included the use of chorus in plays; they were performed from the background concurrently with the play.

A hero is somebody who would jump into a crowd of bullies to save the life of a girl. A hero would shoot all rascals and yet would survive with a hundred bullets in his stomach. This tells that a hero has traditionally been perceived as a physically strong person, but physical strength is much smaller a virtue than emotional strength.

The story shows the reader the result of cruel deeds and arrogance and how free will and fate have hold on one’s life. This is a tragic story which revolves around death, human suffering and repentance .Oedipus being a proud and arrogant king performed many heinous deeds and forgot his limitation as a human being and regarded himself an s God.

It was only through providing an underlying error, sin or omission on the part of the protagonist to explain his downfall so that the audience could understand and connect with the play instead of a situation where the hero was brought down by his own virtues which, as was observed by Plato, had the effect of corrupting the audience.

“Oedipus the King” is a play in which Oedipus is the focal character, and is represented as the most terrible hero. Oedipus is shaped as an attractive personality that has many characteristics, both good and bad.

“Oedipus the king” tale features a couple Laius and Jocasta who were king and queen of Thebes in Greece. In those days, people depended on supernatural beings who would give decrees of what was to happen in future. An oracle came to Laius and Jocasta after they had their first son decreeing that the son will grow up, kill the father, and marry his mother.